Something to Hold Onto
by Spectral Artist
Summary: He needs to choose between taking his crush around Paris and winning a bet, is there any real debate here? Maybe, if a forfeit means no more building for the rest of summer. Nevertheless a choice is made and slowly his world begins to fall apart. He needs to hold onto something, anything to keep him going, yet... Letting go sounds so much easier...
1. Chapter 1, Between Two Things

**Disclaimer:** Obviously I don't own Phineas and Ferb, never have, never will, Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh were the creators. There I'm done, now leave me alone copyright laws. Also, this is the internet with 7 billion people in the world. Chances are quite good that I am not the first to come up with this type of a plot line, give me a break and leave it at that please.

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"I thought... You know... A boy, a girl, alone, in the city of love?" Phineas relayed for the second time over. All it took was repeating it again to make it click in his brain. _"I'm so stupid,"_ he thought to himself, standing in silence while his friends watched him patiently. A small smack to the back of the head by Ferb brought him back to reality, but the oblivious actions up to this point still remained. "Isabella I'm so sorry..." Softly came out of his mouth as he started to falter in his speaking once again. For an entire hour now the cutest girl in the world had been trying to hint at him, and worrying about the plane made him miss every single attempt.

"It's okay Phineas!" She cried out, leaning over to embrace him, both tearing up slightly. Normally her response would default to verbal comfort but any excuse to hug him was appreciated.

"No it's not, I need to fix this..."

Baljeet interrupted him, "Phineas we don't have time for you and Isabella to go around Paris again, although we all want you to. We have only got 3 hours till sunset, we need to leave now."

"Yeah, or you get to do nothing else all summer!" Buford remarked, smirking crudely.

"I..." Phineas started, looking from Isabella to the baguette boat, "Ferb you know how to drive it, can't you take them and shoot off for Danville while her and I stay here?"

Ferb gave a thumbs up in reply yet Candace intervened. "No I need to watch over you two, you can't split up." This was responded to with an incredibly upset Isabella.

"Candace..."

"Nuh uh, you need to come with us as well! Your mother wouldn't forgive me either if she came home and you were missing!" Candace grabbed both Phineas and Isabella's hands to drag them towards the airplane however Phineas was going to be persistent.

"Wait!" Another shot, that's it, just another shot with Isabella in Paris, and a couple of people weren't going to stop him. "Then we won't go, you guys can look around Paris as well. We'll leave later when we're all ready."

"Phineas that's insane!" Baljeet exclaimed, "You do realize you'll be losing the bet in that situation! Even if you don't plan on losing the bet you will be ticking it down to the wire. Making it back safely without anymore mishaps is putting a lot of trust in luck and risking it beyond reason!"

"I... I'm just upset with myself... I don't know what to do... Ferb help me decide, are you okay with me doing this?"

With the attention on him now he needed to think. The idea of doing nothing all summer wasn't at all appealing to him and worst of all in the end nothing would be given in return for his choice at all. Hanging out with Vanessa wasn't going to happen, she left for home with her dad and in any case he didn't like the thought of Buford gaining bragging rights over them either. In the end however they were siblings, and Phineas would do the same for him in this situation. He gave his signature thumbs up causing Phineas to be even more mentally stuck.

"Phineas," a voice came from behind him, "It's okay, I don't mind, let's just go back to Danville. We can hang out there."

"No it's not okay. I put the bet, the airplane, and my inventions above one of my greatest friends in the entire world. I don't even know what happened to me... Isabella, forget about the bet for ten seconds. Would you mind if I tried again?"

"Of course I wouldn't mind, I'd absolutely love it... But Phineas..."

"It's settled then, the the rest of you have some fun but Isabella and myself want to be left alone for a bit." Phineas placed the beret from earlier back on her head and they set off.

Though a small bit of regret tugged at her heart, Isabella couldn't help but feel overjoyed. _"I'm finally on a date with Phineas,"_ was a constantly recurring thought in mind as they walked through the Paris streets. Sure the first attempt at grabbing the attention of her lifetime crush was awful but now it was really hers!

They started walking in the same direction as the first trip around Paris and to both it felt like a re-run. Nothing was going to be different about it, the sights would be the same and their tour route an exact copy. The only difference was the reason behind the journey, and it certainly wasn't airplane parts.

"So Phineas, what would you like to do first?" Isabella was excited, a little too excited. Trying to hold it in was kind of difficult considering she had been waiting an eternity for this moment.

"Hmm, I'd like to build something really quick..." Phineas responded worriedly, and for good reason.

"Phineas! I thought we were..." Isabella started until the thousandth interruption of the day occurred.

"Hold on, you'll like it, I promise."

"If you're sure..."

"I am, but it'll only take a second even if you don't like it." Stopping for a moment he pulled out a camera along with a screwdriver and some random spare parts.

"Hey Phineas, watcha doin?" That question always left this warm feeling in the air every time he heard it.

"Tweaking the camera a bit. It'll fly around with us and take pictures so that we don't have to." One push of a button caused a small propeller to pop out of the top allowing it to fly energetically around them while taking several photos.

"That's so cool! It looks like one of those propeller hats you see in cartoons. But wouldn't we be able to take the pictures ourselves?"

"We could yes, but this Camera will take images in the moment so that we don't forget. Plus it will have the ability to shoot from angles that would be nearly impossible to acquire ourselves."

"Okay well since you're done with that where should we go first?"

"Let's start with the Eiffel tower."

"Okay, where is it?" Isabella asked smiling.

Phineas decided to answer this question by pointing up above them at the giant steel structure famously known for being Mexican. "Oh," was all that escaped her mouth before walking into the elevator with another couple that was boarding. This was slightly awkward for the girls however it turned out to be incredibly entertaining for the boys once Phineas started up a conversation about, what else, planes. The elevator was nearing the end of its ascent when the man noticed something peculiar. "Hey aren't you two a little young to be traveling around Paris alone?"

"Why yes, yes we are," Phineas and Isabella replied in unison.

"Well alright then."

The elevator then reached the top, the couple walking over to the edge to gaze out at the beauty of Paris. Similarly Isabella and Phineas stepped out and made their way to the other end of the tower, taking in the view before them. The sky was starting to turn yellow, a breeze was blowing past them, and the water reflected the coming sunset perfectly. A little too perfect perhaps...

Isabella was afraid that either this was Phineas land right now and they were actually in the plane, or likewise she was asleep in her bed or on the plane going back home. Nothing would make her happier if this was really occurring, yet that lingering doubt still remained. Four years of shattered dreams and false hopes would do that to anyone, this situation possibly being no different than the rest of them.

 _"Well in case this isn't a dream I'll just make the most of it..."_ She thought, looking over at the cute triangle headed boy she loved. "Phineas have you ever seen a view like this and wanted to watch it for the rest of your life?"

"Never, but even if I did the earth would still continue it's rotation despite my wishes."

"Couldn't you create something to stop it from turning?"

"That would be a very interesting gadget... A dangerous one to say the least."

"Hmm, what gadgets do you have on you right now?"

"I have a portal creator that we made out of boredom a few days back."

"Okay then pull it out, we can teleport to that cute restaurant across the street."

He looked down and saw the restaurant, a better idea striking him. "Hey Isabella, want to be the first ones to jump off the Eiffel Tower?"

She caught what he was leading onto and nodded, letting him take her hand in his. It was warm compared to the air that filled the Paris sky, causing her to realize just how cold it really was. Disregarding this, on the count of three both hopped over the railing to the shock of the lovers above them. Holding each others hand tightly their fall continued, the camera flashing a couple times as it descended with them. Phineas, holding a small single button remote, opened a portal underneath them that caused another portal to appear next to the restaurant front door as they fell through it.

"That was so much fun Phineas!" Isabella exclaimed, her first date with Phineas of course being a blast.

"I know right, I got the idea from a video game I played a few weeks ago."

"You two are absolutely insane..." The owner muttered from the front door.

"Yes, yes we are," Isabella coughed out between breaths.

At the same time Buford and Baljeet were still trying to find something to do. "So Buford, what are you hoping to do while we're stranded in France?"

Buford stopped dead and looked around seeing a cheese shop close by. "How about we get a snack, and by snack I mean let's go raid a store." He pulled Baljeet's underpants, dragged him towards the shop, and slammed open the door without anyone in the area thinking twice about it. Once they entered Buford was surprised to see an extremely large variety of cheeses available, quickly causing him to be overcome by temptation. "I want to try a few of your cheeses?"

The shopkeeper was not surprised, everyone wanted to "try" the cheeses but no one actually bought any of his products. At this point the shop sign might as well read, "Come In and Get Free Samples Since We're Not Selling Anything Anyway". Still keeping his composure however he gave Buford the same respect given to all his other customers, "But of course young man, here try this."

Buford took the sample and ate it without hesitation. "I like it, what do you call this delicious piece of life?"

"This we French like to call, Munster."

"I enjoy the texture yet the taste is a bit bold, can I try this one?"

"I'd be a poor shoppe keeper if I didn't allow you to, please, help yourself to a slice."

"This one is called Brie de Meaux, I quite enjoy this one, you try it nerd."

Baljeet took a piece and spat it back out almost as quickly. "How do you eat this stuff? The taste is weird and powerful."

"You think that's powerful? What kind of cheese are you putting on your sandwiches?"

"American..." Baljeet answered slowly in the hopes of not getting a wedgie.

"... Why am I not surprised...? Anyway I like it so I'll take a pound."

They left the store as Baljeet continued to mull over what had just occurred. "Buford, why did my taste in cheese seem to affect your mood greatly? And why did it seem like the cashier was about to have a happy fit before we left?"

"Because for a nerd you have no taste. Aren't you supposed to be some genius kid who sees the bits and pieces of everything? Also I have no idea."

"Yes but it's just some cheese, I don't need to know the full list of cheeses and tastes. Now explain why you are all of a sudden a well cultured person."

"We're in Paris Baljeet, people change with the atmosphere they are set in. You've only ever seen me in Danville with my personality constantly remaining in the same setting, same mood, and similar agenda."

"I suppose you have a point, but can't that same logic be used for me since I too have a slightly different manner compared to home?"

"No, no matter what country you're in you don't forget the foods you eat. You're still a nerd, that hasn't changed a bit since we've gotten here."

Baljeet could sense Buford's emotional side kicking in which didn't happen often but it was best to be avoided either way. Luckily Phineas and Isabella passed by on the other side of the street, perfect timing for him to change the subject. "Hey isn't that Phineas and Isabella?" Baljeet asked, silently yelling at himself for possibly sacrificing their date for a little distraction.

Buford heard this and looked over, "Yes it is, should we go mess with them?"

"No Buford you heard Phineas, they want to be left alone!"

"That's okay, they can be alone as long as I'm allowed to follow them."

"Buford no!"

It was too late, Buford already ran across the street and caught up with the two before Baljeet could do anything about it. Baljeet's eyes were quickly covered, not wanting to see the annoyed look on Isabella's face after Buford sneaks up behind them. Though eventually he figured following would at least keep things from getting out of control so he ran off in a fashion not unlike his rude and unreasonable friend.

"Hey losers!" Buford called out, signaling to the two who was behind them.

Isabella shot around, making the world around her seem much darker than a moment ago. "Hey Buford, what do you need?"

Buford messed up, badly. Her eyes were piercing right through him, his heart feeling a mild pain without any injury occurring beforehand. This "other side" to the normal cheerful girl was enough to make the strongest of minds falter and the toughest people break down. Because of this he was unable to answer her question, thus, since Baljeet just caught up, he decided to answer in place of Buford, "We are here to ask how long we're going to be here, we do have to get home sometime."

Isabella sighed a bit. She wanted to spend more time here but knew that yes, going home had to happen sometime. "Yeah I guess you're right, let's go get the others Phineas."

"Okay?..." Phineas said simply, "You two find Candace, we'll find Ferb."

"Actually they went off together so we should simply stick together until we find them," Baljeet explained, allowing Buford to carry him around again.

"Hmm that's odd, what would they have in common to even consider walking around together?"

"I'm not sure but we should probably check the plane to see if they are back there."

"Okay you heard Baljeet, let's go gang!"

Ferb and Candace were in fact located at the plane, Ferb was fixing it while Candace helped him out a bit here and there. While everyone else was gone the two were able to not only repair the plane but also find Candace a French Ducky Mo-Mo souvenir.

"So that's how you guys build things so quickly," Candace exclaimed in amazement, taking in the sight of what was formerly a baguette boat. The two were always great at building but she had no idea that with a little help her own building skills could be just as fast as theirs.

"Yes it is, though we do have a bit more trouble with longer projects."

"Oh really like what kind of projects?"

"Well the roller coaster would be a good example, I believe we needed three hours to build that monstrosity instead of the usual one."

Candace was no longer listening at this point but was instead ranting about the Ducky Mo-Mo collector's item from earlier. Phineas and the gang arrived mere moments later and were very happy to see the plane fully restored just as it was this morning. They all jumped in, got in their seats, and started up the plane as Phineas started a countdown.

"Okay everyone prepare for take off in ten, nine, eight, one!" Phineas pressed a red button on the control panel and the aircraft blasted off westward towards Danville, and towards home. After about 30 minutes into the ride Candace got incredibly bored all of a sudden and decided to strike up a conversation. "So what do we do once we get home? I mean clearly Phineas and Ferb are going to lose the bet, what happens after that?"

Buford was slightly tired of this being brought up, his response sounding annoyed when it came out. "Well just like the bet said, they get to do nothing all summer."

Everyone in the plane looked backward at him in mild surprise. Candace continued to ask questions. "Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, you enjoy Phineas and Ferb's inventions just as much as we do so why do you want to shut them down?"

"At the moment I want to see what type of an affect it will have on them, us, and Danville as a whole. I believe it will be an interesting and educational experience."

Now is was Baljeet's turn to be concerned as he was freaked out by Buford's sudden choice of words. "Your personality is changing again! Please don't tell me this is part of your whole atmospheric affect thing!"

"I'm not sure Baljeet, if it makes you feel any better I'm mainly doing it to see the chaos."

"That does make me feel a bit better yes..."

"Well good cause it's never good to arrive home worried. By the way when we do get home I want to feel the difference between French and American wedgies."

"Of course you do..."

After a few more hours of flying they were home, unfortunately it was pitch black outside upon their arrival. Landing the plane was a bit difficult with so many people in the backyard but when that was accomplished Phineas couldn't believe his eyes. There was a crowd of people, all with disappointed looks on their faces and lost hope in their eyes. It was thirty minutes past sundown, the celebration put on hold due to their absence. Everyone knew Phineas and Ferb had lost, and all were waiting for an explanation to go along with their delay.

Phineas opened up the airplane hatch half expecting everyone to begin shouting out questions, yet nothing happened. They all simply watched and waited patiently for him to speak. The problem was speaking to all these people who he felt he let down. How do you explain straight to someone's face why you failed in accomplishing your goal? Why the rest of their summer may not be fun because you made a mistake? He looked over to Ferb which attempted to convey a "Ferb help me..." look.

"We had a crash landing in Paris and spent too much time trying to fix it," he announced to the crowd. This seemed to be enough as they dispersed to different places in the backyard and started to enjoy the party again.

"Thanks Ferb, I don't know what happened to me..."

"I believe you got into a bit of stage fright."

"No I just went into a random state of thought..." He gripped onto the seat in a slight rush of anger before going on, "Can you believe that we're not going to be doing anything for the rest of summer break?"

"Well it was a small cost, I'm just glad you "finally" realized Isabella's feelings towards you."

Phineas was shocked to hear this, "Wait, you knew? How long have you known about her crush on me?"

"Let's see here... she started having a crush on you in second grade so... About four years now."

Suddenly Phineas felt a little sick to the stomach. She's liked him for four years and he's never noticed, worse of all Ferb's known the entire time. Was it just not obvious or was someone blocking it from him all this time? _"Maybe if I noticed sooner we wouldn't have lost today...?"_ A few scenarios were played out mentally and every single one of them came out with nothing going wrong. He would've hung out with Isabella the first trip around and the second run wouldn't of needed to occur. They got the parts, fixed the plane, and flew off without a hitch. There may have been a few mishaps along the way, but certainly not anything that could've...

"Phineas, are you okay?"

It was Isabella who asked, probably because it was slightly odd for the boy who hated sitting around to be staring off into space while everyone else had already left the plane. She jumped into the plane passenger seat to sit next to him and to have a little alone time while the others enjoyed the "Welcome Back" party the fireside girls set up for them. _"He's probably just stressed out after the long day, no big deal,"_ she thought to herself, waiting for him to reply... Nothing happened. "No really Phineas... Are you okay?"

He looked over to see who was talking and mentally smacked himself in the face. "Oh yeah I'm fine, just thinking a bit..."

"Whatcha thinking about?"

"Just about today's events... And also noticing how beautiful the night sky is..." They looked up at the hundreds of glowing lights in the sky and Isabella had to agree, it was gorgeous. She's always wanted this, just her and Phineas looking up at the stars together without a single care in the world. The only thing that would make this perfect is if Phineas would make a move, any move, anything at all would be just fine.

"Yes Phineas, the sky is amazing tonight. Anything else you think is beautiful today?"

"Nope not really..." With those words internal yelling spurted up inside him. _"Shoot, I did it again! It's things like that, those moments just slip past me every single time. Is this why her feelings towards me flew under the radar? I'm used to taking information given to me and running with it. I don't look for hidden meanings, I don't try and find subliminal messages, I miss everything if it's not directly stated... She looks so upset right now... It's killing me... I need to change this..."_ "You know what, I do have someone else I'm thinking about."

Isabella's face lit up, _"Oh my gosh it worked! It worked! He's finally not oblivious to me! He's slow, but for once he's catching on. Oh wait, I should probably talk to him."_ "Oh really, who are you thinking about?" She then slowly moved her hand next to his without thinking about it, _"Oh no now I've made it way too clear... Eek, why did I do that?"_

Even after his long streak of blind moments it was hard to miss this one. Spotting the motions was slightly easier when you were looking for them. He placed a hand softly on top of hers before proceeding to answer her question, "Who else would I be talking about?"

"Pinch me!"

That quickly drew out the mood of the moment. "Wait what?"

"You don't know how long I've been waiting for this and now that it's here I want to make sure it's real. How many times I've woken up from a wonderful dream only to realize it didn't happen... Please, can you give me a reason to believe this time is real?"

"No I'm afraid I can't... and I'd rather not pinch you." This gave him another great idea, "Hold on, usually dreams end in neurological sequences at points when the dream is in the process of ending a section or scene, right?"

"That's usually how they work, yes."

"Well then how about this?" He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek softly, their first one ever. Isabella's heart was beating slightly faster and where he planted the kiss was now feeling really hot. But she knew that if he was trying to wake her up then this wasn't what ended any of the dreams she conjured up.

"Nope that's not good enough!" Pulling his hand brought him closer to herself and into kiss, a shocking one since he wasn't ready but a kiss nonetheless. It ended a few seconds later and when it did he fell backwards in a daze. "There, I think I'm awake now." _"And even if I'm not I hope I remember this dream when it's over..."_

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 **Author's Note:** I know that I restarted this story and I have good reason to do so. The original was rushed, mostly dialogue, and had almost no substance. I wanted to make an interesting plot idea but one that also came out as cute and suspenseful. My mind was in the same state as when I started working on my first Youtube animations and videos. I updated just to get a product out there. But as I was reading over my original I noticed it was incredibly rushed... I don't want a story that's just taking up data on the internet, I want to bring something into it and if that means redoing the entire thing then that's what I need to do.

So thank you for reading this if you did, and I'll be sure to make my future publishing's in the same manner as I have this one. Fully edited, looked through, critiqued, and without the rush.


	2. Chapter 2, It's Hard to Remember

**Author's Note:** Okay... I have a lot of explaining to do so I'll try and wrap it up quickly. I've been somewhat depressed, and I lost faith in my writing skills. I believed myself to be an awful writer and saw no point in continuing on any of my six stories. Over the past few months I've been focusing more on programming and technology as my main hobbies but a few days ago I looked in my emails and saw that three people had started following this story. It broke my heart because I had given up on something that other people were finding an interest in, so I couldn't abandon it. So thanks for following and favoriting it. I'm doing this, I have the courage to do so now!

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Phineas woke up several hours later not entirely sure what had become of him. He was laying on his bed, comfortably, without any recollection of how he got there. He had no memory of the night before which was odd since his normally ecstatic, over the top nature is what they used to try and beat the previous day and thus had to remember what they did in order to make the following afternoon more adventurous. So after rattling his brain for a few minutes without any progress, the choice was made to consult his brother about the previous day.

He made his way downstairs, following the soft smell of pancakes to the kitchen where he presumed Ferb would be, but he wasn't there. Upon further searching through the house it became apparent that Ferb wasn't there, and neither was Candace. Come to think of it, no one was there at all. The house was completely empty, and there wasn't a note to be found to represent where the Flynn-Fletcher family had gone.

"Where did everyone go?" He asked himself before promptly opening up his phone and attempting calling Isabella.

At the Garcia-Shapiro, Isabella was laying in her bed slightly crying into her pillow. The tears were dripping from her face, staining the pillowcase, as she continued to think about what had happened the night before. She couldn't bear to realize that what happened last night could ruin her friendship and possible life with Phineas.

"What... w-was I... th-thinking?..." The words sputtered out between gasps of air and coughing into her bedsheets. "Why... d-did I kiss him?... He must be so confused... Or worse... What if he hates me for it?!..."

She buried her face under the covers in shame and fear just before her phone began to vibrate on the little purple nightstand next to her. Looking over she saw that it was Phineas calling her and so picked it up, answered it, and braced for an outburst on the other end.

Instead of yelling and screaming as she originally expected, she was relieved to hear a cheerful, young, triangle-headed boy ask if she knew where his family was today. Naturally, her response was "No, I'm sorry I don't..." since her face has been suffocated in a bedtime marshmallow all morning.

"Oh, that's too bad. I'm kind of worried since they didn't leave a note or anything."

"Well have you called them to see where they were?"

"No... I probably should though."

"Well, I'd be worried if you were staying at your house alone... Would you like to come over? I'm sure my mama wouldn't mind you staying for a little while. It's just not safe..." That being said, as Phineas was giving his response she got up and started heading downstairs to tell her mom about what was going on.

"Oh really? Thanks, Isabella!"

"Sure, no prob." She responded before peeking into the kitchen. "Hey mama, Phineas's family isn't home for some reason. Would you have any problem with him staying over for a little bit?"

"Oh of course not Isa. Has he eaten breakfast yet?"

"Not sure... Hey Phineas, have you had anything to eat yet?"

"No, not yet. I was just going to eat some cereal really quick."

Vivian heard this and swiped the phone out of her daughter's hand. "No Phineas, you come straight over here. I was just about to start making breakfast, and it's not safe for you to stay there any longer than you already have."

"Alright then, I'll be right over Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro." The phone was then hung up and handed back over to Isabella. She decided to get a quick shower to fix her hair before he walked over, and within roughly fifteen minutes there was a knocking at the front door signaling the arrival of their expected guest.

Isabella ran over to the door as quick as she could, coming to a streaking halt before she collided with it. Quickly she straightened out her skirt a bit, adjusted her bow, and twirled her hair for a second before opening the door to her night's dream.

"Hey Phineas," Came out of her mouth in a bit more dreamy of a tone than usual. "What'cha doing?"

"Still trying to figure out a couple things. I don't know where anyone went, and I'm having trouble remembering what exactly happened last night."

This shattered Isabella's mental track for a moment. _"What does he mean he doesn't remember?"_ All this time she believed he was perfectly okay with what happened. Now it all became clear... "Oh... Y-you, don't remember... w-what happened last night?..."

"I'm afraid I don't." He glanced to the side of him for a second before continuing, "Maybe you can help me?"

"O-of course..." And with a huge hole in her heart, she walked inside and lead him into the dining room for breakfast.

The meal itself was alright, though the conversation was nothing special. Her mama remarked about how tall Phineas had gotten, they ate their breakfast burritos, and then split up from the table. Vivian went to clean up the kitchen, Phineas ended up watching some television, and Isabella climbed up the stairs to go cry some more in her bedroom. That's all she did nowadays.

Every day she would go out to see what Phineas was up to, drop a few hints, and then return home to realize she had once again gotten nowhere with him. The days were spent adventuring, and the nights were spent crying for lovesick self to sleep. However, this time was different. In the night she went to bed happy, ecstatic in fact. It was just all wrong.

 _"How could he forget that I kissed him last night?..."_ She began to think to herself and tears began to well up behind her eyelids. _"I know he passed out after I did... But surely he should remember... right? Unless I was dreaming, just as I was afraid I would be. But it just felt so real. The feeling of his lips on mine... The touch of his shirt as I pulled him into it... The sound he made when he fell back into the cockpit..."_

Suddenly there was a knock at her door and she swiftly made to clean the tears off her face before calling out, "Come in!"

Phineas opened the door and poked his head between the small crack. "Hey Isabella, are you okay up here?"

"Y-yeah," she lied between small takes of breath. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but you did seem a little upset when you went up here."

A tear suddenly formed in her eye that couldn't be helped. She fell backward onto her bed and broke down in front of him. The tears began trickling down her cheeks as the entire world began to collapse before her. The air around the room felt heavy, and the scent of the strawberry shampoo didn't mix well with the taste of salt on the tip of her lips.

Never in his life did such a rush take over him. Within seconds he went from the door to kneeling by the side of her bed, trying to comfort her. _"What happened to her? She was fine just a moment ago..."_ "Isabella?..." He gently placed his right hand on top of hers, using his other to grip onto the mattress and keep him from falling over.

There was a moment's pause before she pulled up hand away from him and turned over in her bed, encasing herself in the blanket in the hopes of keeping him away. Slowly her thoughts began to attack her from under her cotton igloo. _"You took it too far too quickly Isabella. Did you really think that kissing him then was a good idea? He gave you a small innocent peck on the cheek, and you had to be selfish didn't you?"_

Over and over the self-ridicule came as Phineas sat on the bed with his back towards her. _"This isn't like her..."_ He thought to himself, _"What would cause her to freak out like this?"_

For nearly an hour the situation continued as a stalemate with Phineas confusedly trying to connect situations, and Isabella battling her fears under the sheets. Neither moved, neither spoke, and neither made any progress with their doubts. As time slipped passed at times they would try and work the courage to start a conversation, then would slowly falter as it once again dawned on them the situation they were in. Two best friends sitting right next to each other, and no one could be farther apart than they were at that very moment.

The time continued to turn past them. Thirty minutes, forty-five, two hours. By the time one o'clock hit, the silence was only broken by Vivian coming upstairs with some snacks for the kids. A loud couple knocks came from the door, making Isabella jump up from the bed and onto the floor from the sudden presence of sound. Phineas opened that door and accepted the small cracker sandwiches she made downstairs. Once the door was closed and the silence returned, he set the tray down on the nightstand and walked over to the other side of the bed, sitting down next to the only girl left in the room.

As he sat down she flinched slightly out of nervousness, still covering herself with the blanket, minus her face. He noticed this but didn't mention it, not wanting to make it any worse for either of them. Instead, he started off by simply asking, "What's going on Isabella?"

Though it took a minute to respond she eventually did. With a small, anxious swallow, she began to ask, "Do you really not remember what happened last night?"

"I'm afraid I don't... We were in Paris, I walked around with you for a bit, we got home, I had a small bit of stage fright as Ferb put it, and then I woke up in bed this morning with everyone missing."

This isn't what she ideally wanted to hear, but it was the best she would get. "You blacked out during the welcome home party. We were trying to figure out if I was dreaming so you kissed me on the cheek... And I..." At this point she pulled her knees to her chest under the covers, not wanting to continue but knowing she had to. "I sort of forced you into a kiss..."

Phineas was internally shocked at this, doing his best not to show it. In his mind he was having a type of inner argument with himself that went something like, _"How have I forgotten about this?"_

 _"I don't know, you're one of those special kids who tends to forget about things related to romance."_

 _"I don't try to I just miss things."_

 _"Yes, such as in Paris where you missed quite a few "things"."_

 _"Okay, I don't catch hints. That still doesn't explain how I forgot she had kissed me last night!"_

 _"Well I can't give you the answer to that since I'm you, but I can ask a better question. Why do you think she's been so afraid to tell you?"_

 _"Because she's embarrassed?"_

 _"No you idio..."_

His dialogue was cut off by Isabella asking him, "Phineas, are you okay?..." Which brought him back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine... I just don't understand..."

"Don't understand what?..."

"Well, you've been hiding for this long, presumably because you didn't want to tell me this... I just don't understand why you were hiding?"

A small sigh escaped her mouth as she buried half her face into her knees. "You see... I've liked you for a really long time now. Longer than I could possibly remember, and I've always been afraid of being rejected by you..."

Phineas was caught off guard by this statement, but also not entirely surprised considering she's been coming to his backyard and throwing hints at him for years.

"So last night after you passed out I was happy... Really happy... I felt like I had finally done it, finally felt like I was able to like you how I've always wanted to for a while now... That being said, this morning I woke up afraid of a few things nearly at the same time... I was afraid you would wake up today and not have liked the kiss, which in turn led me to be scared at the idea that I would walk into your backyard today and you would tell me us being together wouldn't work..."

At this point she was near crying again but she continued, "Eventually... I got to the point that I was afraid of... What if last night didn't really happen? What if I really was just dreaming, like I said last night? So when you called me this morning and you weren't mad or upset with me I was relieved. Joyful in fact that maybe it wasn't going to be as bad as I thought. But then you came to my door and said you didn't remember what happened last night, and I realized the last fear was the one that came true... To think that after all that time I may have to keep going in my day to day life with the same routine, the routine that I thought was finally broken yesterday... It was just too much to bear..."

"Isabella..." Was all he could say to her. He wasn't entirely sure what he was feeling anymore, so all he could do was wrap his arm around her, and pull her closer to him.

Her eyes opened up in shock at what was happening, but she knew she liked it. Ever so slowly she started leaning her head onto his shoulder and closing her eyes again. She had her blanket, she had Phineas, nothing could be better, except for possibly laying in the bed, but the floor was fine.

Three minutes passed before them and it felt like an eternity. It didn't take long for them to fall asleep next to each other, this lasting for nearly two hours. Eventually Vivian came up again to check up on them, peeking into the room to see what they were up to. When she saw them on the left side of the bed sleeping the only thing she did was smile and quietly closed the door, thinking to herself "Isa finally did it."

That's how they stayed for a few hours, not a single disturbance in the air. As they slept he missed four calls from his brother as he desperately tried to get a hold of Phineas.


End file.
